This invention relates to a microwave browning composition and to the method of producing the browning composition. More particularly, the invention relates to a coating composition for foods having a pastry crust which undergoes browning reactions upon microwave heating to provide cooked products having a desirable browned crust.
The usage of microwave ovens in homes has increased significantly in recent years and continues to increase. While microwave cooking of foods affords a significant time savings over conventional convection oven cooking, it suffers from the disadvantage that foods cooked by microwave energy lack the desired degree of surface browning that foods, particularly those having a dough crust such as meat pies and fruit pies, have when cooked in a conventional oven.
The most common reaction responsible for surface browning during cooking of products having a dough crust is the well-known Maillard reaction (non enzymatic browning) between naturally occurring reducing sugars and compounds containing an amino group, e.g. amino acids, peptides and proteins, which results in the formation of colored melanoidins. The rate at which the Maillard reaction proceeds to form the colored pigments increases markedly with temperature. When foods containing a dough crust, such as frozen pies, are heated in a conventional oven, the crust is heated to considerably higher temperatures than the interior of the pie, with the high surface temperatures being sufficient to achieve browning. However, in microwave heating the heat energy is released internally within the food so that the surface remains at a relatively even temperature with the interior. Consequently the high surface temperatures necessary to achieve browning are not reached within the time required to bake the pie.
A number of compositions have been proposed heretofor to create a browned surface on foods heated by microwave energy. However, none of these prior compositions has been entirely satisfactory due to flavor concerns, cost, ineffectiveness, difficulty of use, and other problems.